STOCKTON, Calif. — Neither the buzz surrounding their major league-affiliated team nor the rain Thursday could stop officials with the Single-A Stockton Ports from getting ready for a new season.
"We're here, we're excited and we're focusing on the Stockton Ports 2024 season and beyond," said Ports General Manager Jordan Feneck. "My favorite thing to do is to have fans in the ballpark, that's the reason we all do it."
Fans can look forward to a new field, new promotions and new food specials once the season starts Friday night, but for General Manager Jordan Feneck and his front office staff, excitement is growing with the thought of more fans packing the stadium — this season in particular.
"That's what we're looking forward to," said Feneck. "We're excited to see the crowds here and have some great promotions and partnerships with them as well."
One of those partnerships is with the Baseball's Last Dive Bar, one of the A's most vocal fan groups, which is now hoping to fill seats at Banner Island Ballpark in protest of the A's owners and their planned move to Vegas.
Robb Roberts has been involved with the Last Dive Bar since it was founded.
"Today's a very very difficult, very hard day," said Roberts."(But) we finally have something to be excited about, especially this year coming out of what we've been battling and so I can not wait to be at Banner Island."
He lives in Galt but says he'd rather make the drive to Stockton to support the Ports than West Sacramento where his favorite team now plans to play for at least the next three seasons.
"The whole organization (Ports) and how they run everything — fantastic," said Roberts. "We're just getting our gears going on all of this. We're acting quickly and reacting very quickly and kind of developing everything quickly."
While plans for the whole season are still in the works, the group already has two fan events planned, including a tailgate and luau night on May 3.
"I hope we blow it out out there in Stockton this year at Banner Island," said Roberts. "It's going to be something special and especially bringing in Dive Bar and everything else being involved in this, it's going to encapsulate everybody and bring everybody together."
Despite the pain many fans feel right now, Jordan hopes his downtown Stockton ballpark will help bring everyone together too.
"We're excited to be working with them this year and hopefully for years to come because they're going to put a lot of fans in the ballpark," said Feneck. "I'd love to see as many fans here as possible so I'm hoping that what we provide to the community — what we provide to our fans — is enough reason to get them out here and to enjoy the games."
Watch more from ABC10: Exclusive | A's President Dave Kaval congratulates team for Sacramento move
